Elizabeth Raleigh

Elizabeth "Bess" Raleigh (16 April 1565-1647) was Walter Raleigh's wife and a Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber to Queen Elizabeth I of England.

Biography
Elizabeth Throckmorton was the daughter of an English diplomat, and she served as a courtier to Queen Elizabeth I of England. She became a Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber to Queen Elizabeth, and it was there that she met Walter Raleigh, with whom she became enamored. They married in the autumn of 1591 after conceiving a child, and their son died of the plague during infancy. Queen Elizabeth was angered by the fact that they had married without her permission, and they were both imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1592. After their release, they no longer stayed at court, and Elizabeth would have Raleigh's head embalmed after King James I of England had him executed to placate Spain. Elizabeth Raleigh died in 1647.